Tinkuy: Converging Ecologies

curated by Xavier Robles Armas

February 8th- May 12th, 2023

Pachi Muruchu, *Tinkuy: Converging Ecologies* (2022), exhibition view courtesy of The Latinx Project at NYU

Pachi Muruchu’s solo exhibition Tinkuy: Converging Ecologies culminates his time as an A.I.R. at The Latinx Project. The works displayed are a selection of paintings and collages that explore the artist's personal and political relationships to New York City’s ecology. The title of the exhibition Tinkuy, is based on a Kichwa word that loosely translated, means a type of convergence between two things that ultimately create a flow. The exhibition expands on the artist's relationship to New York City’s indigenous histories offering poetic and bold statements about the seamless coexistence of urban life and indigeneity. A deep connection to the land is reflected through his representation of interspecies subjectivities between plants and people close to him. Informed by his research on Lenape and Andean histories Pachi composes meaningful portraits where stories about plant ecologies between Ecuador, New York City, and the Bronx live. The artist creates new worlds and lives through his paintings that help us to appreciate the materiality of Tinkuy in New York City.

By dying fabric and digging into local plant ecologies, and referencing his indigenous Kichwa roots. Pachi encourages us to think about the relationships we sustain with one another and the natural world. The natural flora and fauna embedded in the imagery are entangled with people close to him. In these profound images, the artist orients us towards a commons embedded in the urban life of Mannahatta. Pachi’s work encourages us to consider a Mannahatta that is rich and vibrant with natural plant ecologies, a Mannahatta that is honored and stewarded by the original indigenous Lenape inhabitants and by the many other indigenous people across the Americas who have made it their home. Pachi’s work is a constant reminder of the histories, narratives, and vibrant life that exists in our everyday lives, ultimately tying us all together.

“Art represents the living subjectivity of a people. It is meant to guide our interactions with the material world. Cultural objects are our inheritance of the knowledge and relationships our ancestors intimately held. Today it is passed on to us with hands soaked in the soil and grime of our urbanized Landscape.” - Pachi Muruchu

Xavier Robles Armas, Curator

Pachi Muruchu, *Tinkuy: Converging Ecologies* (2023), exhibition view courtesy of The Latinx Project at NYU

Pachi Muruchu, *Ñukapa hatun mamawan Moskim*, 2022, crayon, colored pencil, amate and collage on paper, 9 x 10.25 inches

Pachi Muruchu, ***Left to Right****, BRICK (The last shall be first)*, 2022, oil on canvas, 14 x 17 inches, Ñukapa hatun mamawan Moskim, 2022, crayon, colored pencil, amate and collage on paper, 9 x 10.25 inches, Wawaku, 2021, oil on canvas, 15 x 19 inches.

Pachi Muruchu, ***Left to Right****, An allegory for your mind (Mpisun)*, 2022, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 inches, Ahpahëweikék (Ñuka urpiku maypita kanki), 2023, fabric, embroidery floss, oil on linen naturally dyed with Reseda Luteola.
48 x 42 inches *, Wisahkim 1643 (Tiana beneath the Grapevine who lived in the Lower East Side)*, oil on linen naturally dyed with Reseda Luteola (Weld), 9 x 12 inches

*Wisahkim 1643 (Tiana beneath the Grapevine who lived in the Lower East Side)*, oil on linen naturally dyed with Reseda Luteola (Weld), 9 x 12 inches

Exhibition photos by Tere Garcia, courtesy of The Latinx Project at NYU

About the Artist

Pachi Muruchu is an Ecuadorian painter whose work builds upon millennia of indigenous Andean knowledge and cultural labor. He was born in Azuay, a highlands province in Ecuador, but has lived the majority of his life in Spanish Harlem. A recent graduate from RISD's 2021 class, Pachi's work focuses on animistic storytelling from his ancestral Andean geographies and the Lenape territory he grew up in. His images weave centuries of indigenous storytelling with contemporary experiences. He was part of The Clemente's group show, The Fight to Free Leonard Peltier - Honoring Indigenous Culture and Heritage. Muruchu also had a solo show at Friends Indeed Gallery in October 2022. Currently, he is the Artist in Residence for the Latinx Project.

About the Curator

Xavier Robles Armas (b. Zacatecas, Mexico 1991)manages the arts and events at the Latinx Project. He is an independent curator and artist, based in Queens by way of Santa Ana, Calif., with a background in architectural studies and MFA in photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His research connects notions of migration, place-making, affect theory, philosophies of becoming, and Mexican-American literature. He is specifically interested in the role of the cultural institution as a place for porous learning and experimentation in uplifting new narratives in art. He has previously held roles at the Queens Museum, SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Southern Exposure.